


if the cloud bursts, thunder in your ear

by patientalien



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: 50 Sentences, Alternate Universe - Dark, Dark Jedi 'Verse, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-25
Updated: 2014-02-25
Packaged: 2018-01-13 19:12:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,403
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1237798
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/patientalien/pseuds/patientalien
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Xanatos du Crion does not serve the Emperor, but he does spend his time with the man behind the throne.</p>
            </blockquote>





	if the cloud bursts, thunder in your ear

**Author's Note:**

  * For [citizenjess (givehimonemore)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/givehimonemore/gifts).



> For my wonderful citizenjess/pinkiuspiekus. Based on the Dark Jedi 'Verse RP.

**#01 - Motion**

Xanatos du Crion remains in his exile until the news finally reaches him; then he knows it's time to move.

**#02 - Cool**

The reception at the palace is downright chilly, eyed with suspicion by both Emperor and Empress, until Obi-Wan Kenobi appears and everything melts.

**#03 - Young**

He's not a young man anymore - neither of them are - but Xanatos is dismayed to find that Obi-Wan has been aged by far more than time.

**#04 - Last**

He calls Obi-Wan the last of the Jedi just once; the man's whip-fast reaction keeps him from making the same mistake again.

**#05 - Wrong**

He gets the sense that he's the only one who doesn't consider what Obi-Wan is doing as wrong, per se - he's surviving, which is more than Xanatos can say for much of the galaxy.

**#06 - Gentle**

Xanatos tries to be gentle, their first time (not really their first, but their first under THESE circumstances), but Obi-Wan teases - "Since when where you ever gentle?" - and the dynamic shifts.

**#07 - One**

Xanatos finds he is the one being allowed in Obi-Wan's inner chambers whenever he pleases; the others, no matter how closely-kept, are summoned instead.

  
**#08 - Thousand**

Thousands of generations of knowledge in the Holocron vaults, and Xanatos du Crion is one of the few with access; not even the Emperor can say the same.

**#09 - King**

It quickly becomes clear that Obi-Wan rules the palace; Emperor in all but name - from what Xanatos has observed, this is for the best.

**#10 - Learn**

The Holocrons provide knowledge unlike anything he's ever dreamt of, but it's re-learning everything he thought he knew about Obi-Wan Kenobi that takes up the bulk of his time.

**#11 - Blur**

Their nights together blur into a heady mixture of want and need; this is everything Xanatos wants and everything he didn't realize he needed.

**#12 - Wait**

Life at the palace - well, the old Jedi Temple - is a lot of hurry-up-and-waiting; not much happens for days at a time, but when things do, it's always with an explosion of urgency.

**#13 - Change**

Obi-Wan Kenobi, Xanatos decides, has not changed; the galaxy has and Obi-Wan has adapted.

**#14 - Command**

He's offered command of a portion of the Imperial Navy, but declines - his place is with Obi-Wan.

**#15 - Hold**

Organa, the Duchess, Ventress, Xanatos himself - Obi-Wan seems to hold them close - Xanatos would blame fear of loss, but that is a path to the dark side.

**#16 - Need**

Obi-Wan needs him, though perhaps he would not admit it outright; that Xanatos is kept closer than any of the others proves it just the same.

**#17 - Vision**

He's not sure what the overarching goals of this new Empire are, but he knows Obi-Wan's overarching goal is to maintain peace.

**#18 - Attention**

Despite the entourage, Skywalker takes up the bulk of Obi-Wan's attention many days - if not in person, than in thought and word.

**#19 - Soul**

"His soul is damaged," Obi-Wan admits, hushed whisper "the cloning process..." - it's no secret something is wrong, but this is something even Xanatos couldn't have expected.

**#20 - Picture**

There's a holopic Obi-Wan keeps in his bedside table; Xanatos isn't supposed to know it's there, but the image of their shared former Master looks out at him all the same.

**#21 - Fool**

One of Qui-Gon's old sayings - "Who's the more foolish, the fool or the fool who follows him?" - crosses Xanatos' mind more than once in those early days.

**#22 - Mad**

Skywalker's madness is becoming more obvious; it's only the chemical leash Obi-Wan has him on, and the threat of Obi-Wan's newfound power, that keeps him from becoming a liability.

**#23 - Child**

Obi-Wan's plan to bind himself to the Organas via a child makes a certain amount of sense, once Xanatos is able to push aside the jealousy.

**#24 - Now**

'Then' has become an abstraction, whatever they'd shared before has shifted, equaled, and while Xanatos still takes control theirs has become a partnership.

**#25 - Shadow**

Skywalker can disappear into shadows when he wants to; Xanatos can sense his presence following him throughout the palace on more than one occassion.

**#26 - Goodbye**

He never really said goodbye to Obi-Wan the first time; he's determined not to have to this time around.

**#27 - Hide**

He refuses to hide from Skywalker, despite the dirty looks promising violence that get cast his way.

**#28 - Fortune**

The Jedi Order's vast fortune has come under the purview of the Empire - Obi-Wan and Amidala use it to fund humanitarian efforts and, Xanatos learns later, a superweapon.

**#29 - Safe**

The remaining Force-users in the galaxy, those who haven't garnered Obi-Wan or Skywalker's personal attention, are left to live their lives in relative peace.

**#30 - Ghost**

Obi-Wan doesn't even pretend that the concept of Qui-Gon appearing to anyone but him doesn't tear him up inside.

**#31 - Book**

The Holocron vaults hold some secrets, many secrets, but Xanatos isn't sure how much he needs to share.

**#32 - Eye**

He and Asajj Ventress do not entirely see eye on eye, but he can admit a certain appreciation for her, especially in that she too does not seem to think Obi-Wan has changed as much as the others do.

**#33 - Never**

"Only a Sith deals in absolutes", but the word "never" is frequently uttered within the palace walls.

**#34 - Sing**

When he and Obi-Wan spend quiet nights together, doing nothing more than talking - reminiscing, planning - the Force hums.

**#35 - Sudden**

They're in the midst of such a conversation, Force pleased for the respite, when Skywalker appears, expression thunderous, then disappears just as quickly with merely a flick of Obi-Wan's wrist.

**#36 - Stop**

Xanatos asks once why Obi-Wan doesn't stop the power grabs by Amidala - not that he's one to criticize; Obi-Wan's response is that the enemy you know is better than the enemy you don't - and Xanatos wonders when Naboo's former Senator became an enemy (or if she truly is, and Obi-Wan is just feeling poetic).

**#37 - Time**

Xanatos has spent nearly two decades missing this; he is determined to make up for lost time.

**#38 - Wash**

Little by little, the Temple is repaired, the scorch marks erased; though it starts to look like the place Xanatos once knew, it still feels strange sometimes - he'd never really belonged here until now.

**#39 - Torn**

When Xanatos tells Obi-Wan what needs to be done - per the Holocrons, the research he's done with Ventress - in order to restore Skywalker's soul to his new body, he expects Obi-Wan to have a hard time making the choice but he does not.

**#40 - History**

Their shared history binds them; he has known Obi-Wan the longest, knows him perhaps the best because he has been there through everything even if they have been light years apart.

**#41 - Power**

Power had once been his goal, now he leaves that amibition to others because he has who he's wanted from the very start.

**#42 - Bother**

Obi-Wan locks Skywalker in the Zone of Self Containment - "He can't bother us for now."

**#43 - God**

Anakin Skywalker had been a media darling at the height of the War, practically a God, but Xanatos knows who the true power behind the throne is.

**#44 - Wall**

Xanatos doesn't like to see Obi-Wan putting a mental wall around himself - "I thought we were passed this," he says softly, guiding him to the bedroom.

**#45 - Naked**

He stripes Obi-Wan, taking control as he always did - and always still does, guiding Obi-Wan's movements and helping him forget, for a little while, why they're both here.

**#46 - Drive**

He still has ambition, becomes the representative from Tellos with Obi-Wan and Amidala's blessings, and tries to make sense of the chaos that is the Imperial Senate.

**#47 - Harm**

No one Obi-Wan has brought to the palace ever comes to harm - that's what Xanatos tells himself, anyway; he knows about the dungeons, but those are not Obi-Wan's arena.

**#48 - Precious**

In his more sentimental moments (he's becoming an old man, after all), he considers Obi-Wan and how this strong-willed Padawan could have possibly become so precious to him.

**#49 - Hunger**

The darkness inside Skywalker continues to feed; something will need to be done soon and Xanatos half-wishes Obi-Wan would just finish what he started on Mustafar so the inevitable doesn't have to happen.

**#50 - Believe**

He's never truly held to most Jedi beliefs, he wonders how many Obi-Wan clings to; it hardly matters because for now, they have peace, and each other.


End file.
